auchmeddan

This is my first blog for a while, sorry its been so long in coming. Just had my 32nd birthday and to celebrate Dave and I decided to go out and look for a car…well I think that I really decided that. I’d already given our details to a dealer in town so that was our first port of call the morning of my birthday. He showed us a nicely priced 2yr old gold, Nissan Pulsar. Think the colour was putting Dave off but I really liked it. We went around a couple of other dealers but everything in our price range was 6 years old or more, not really what we were looking for. Went back to the first dealer and had another look at it and Dave said it was my decision so we bought it. They were kind enough to give us a lift to the bank to get the draft cheque and our insurance sorted. After not having driven in a little while I got Dave to drive to the parking spot we have in town. More than going out for lunch i wanted to know where it was for driving into town the next day. This annoys the crap out of Dave but driving somewhere new when I don’t know where I’m going stresses me out like you wouldnt believe. Anyway, we went out for a late lunch and having plucked up the courage I said I’d drive home if he wanted a beer. With my co-pilot Dave by my side I wasn’t as nervous being on new roads. Only just realised today that 75% of my driving experience has been in Bermuda so its no surprise that driving on a 3 lane motorway was making me somewhat nervous.

Today I ventured out by myself for a little shopping spree, below is the picture of me driving off. Got a very nice top and necklace and a couple of glossy lipsticks. Feeling much more comfortable driving the car now but its going to take me a while to get used to driving in all this traffic.

I also got flowers from mum and dad today, they were supposed to come on my birthday but with Dave and I being out all yesterday I didnt get them until today. I’ve put a photo of them below, they’re gorgeous. Didn’t even have to re-arrange them, they fitted perfectly into the vase.

Morag arranged an afternoon out to Vogrie with the kids, my mum and her mum. In the morning I thought it was going to be rained off but the nearer we got to Vogrie the brighter the sun got.

Mum had to meet dad to drop off some tools so she met us later along with Morag’s mum. When we got there Kimberly, Rachel and Joshua all set off running for the park, Morag and I not quite as enthusiastic about the whole thing just walked. Once there the first thing I spotted was the swings, felt like a kid all over again and practically bolted to them. Kimberly, Rachel and I all got on and started swinging for all we were worth. The swings are all set in a circle so when you swing forward all your feet end up together in the middle. Of course this means that we were all trying to kick one another.

Next up was the trampolines where Morag and I tried our best to knock the kids off. It’s set up as lots of little trampolines strung together with rope, pretty cool. While down there my mum and Auntie Doreen (doesn’t seem right to call Morag’s mum just Doreen) showed up with Murphy (my Mum’s Border Collie).

We headed back to the main park where we spun and flung the kids all over the place. Both the mums sat at the side chatting away and probably laughing at Morag and I running around like idiots. Kimberly challenged Morag and I to leap frog the pillars in the park. Kimberly although much smaller than us had no problems leaping over all 6 of them. Rachel gave it her best shot and did them all by jumping, sitting then sliding off. Morag almost head butted the next pillar in the line so stopped at just one. I decided to go for it and to my surprise I managed them fine. Think my mum was just as surprised as I was that I didn’t trip and end up flat on my back. Much fun was had by all.

While having our mid afternoon refreshments I remembered I had the camera on me and got it out to get a few photos of the kids, the best two are below. It was a great afternoon out and I look forward to our day out to North Berwick next week.

Did some pretty good diving this morning, the highlight being our safety stop hanging out with two Remoras. I hadn’t really noticed them gunning for us so when they abruptly arrived right at my face I nearly had a heart attack. I didn’t know what they were but they were about 2 feet long and looked kinda shark like. Wasn’t too sure about them to start with and when one of them swam right up my body then to my face I actually made a little whimpering noise. I saw Dave laugh at me then give me the “OK” sign, so I figured they couldn’t be that bad if he was laughing.

Our safety stop was long over but as they were still hanging around we stayed down for 10 mins or so. One of them tried to attach itself to Dave’s arm while he was filming. Was so cool having them playing with us and coming in so close. What a great morning diving on Jim Abernethy’s day trip boat, the 6 day shark trip on “Shear Water” should be awesome.

This was our last day diving with Blue Water First dive was the Hermes and as we’ve done it a few times we just decided to stay on the boat. Was pretty funny watching as chaos enused with all the divers trying to get themselves in the water and down to the wreck. When they were all eventually away I took another couple of leaps off the boat from the top deck, its not that high up but I still get a wee bit of a rush jumping off.

After we got back wanted a group shot of everyone. While waiting to get them all together Tracy was kind enough to do a cartwheel up the lovely plastic dock, the dock which by the way Dave fell off while exiting the boat one day, ha, ha. Finally got the group shot so I’ve put that photo along with Tracy’s stellar gymnastics below.

The Diving this weekend was OK, didn’t see as much as we usually do. Just proves Dave’s theory that all the fish work Monday to Friday and not on holidays. I did find some interesting things in the water though.

While out at Darlington on Saturday I came across a US drivers license for a guy called August. Thought he was on the boat but it was only someone that looked like him. I have no idea how it ended up in the water but it was right by the boat so he must have had it on him when he jumped in. Dont think you need a drivers license to dive……

The other item was much better, found that on the Monday afternoon trip. With me being a women I’m attracted to shiny objects so naturally when I see something blinking in the sunlight on the sand I have to go and investigate. To be honest I thought it was the ring part of a keyring but I didnt want to leave it in the water in case a fish or something ate it. When I picked it up I realised that it was someone’s wedding ring, the inscription on the inside read “Your kitten loves you”. Showed Dave and continued our dive with it on my thumb. Got on the boat showed Ondrej who was going to put it in lost and found, didnt think for a minute that it was from one of the divers on the boat. Happened to look at the young couple sitting opposite us and noticed that she had on a wedding ring and engagement ring but he didnt have anything on. Asked him if he’d lost a wedding ring which he had, told him what I’d found and it was his. I’ve never seen anyone suddenly look so happy, you could see him sighing with relief. Him and his wife were so glad that it wasn’t lost, don’t think he’ll be wearing it diving again.

That’s my good deed for the week.

The Hermes is not exactly one of Daves favourite dives. I’ve done it a few times recently and really enjoyed the dives but Dave just didn’t believe me until today. It being flat calm must have been a good omen for this dive. We avoided the wreck altogether and headed west across a cut of the reef and back again. On the way back I came upon a lizard fish which I sent Dave off to photograph. While he was busy with that I headed over to two anenomes and found 3 shrimps inside them. I Got Dave over for some photographs and even although they are very small (the body is only an inch long) he got some really good photos, the best of which is below.

On the way back to the wreck for our ascent up the mooring line I spotted a couple of Coneys chasing some fish away from a patch of coral, so I went in for a closer look. I found a reasonable sized octopus hiding under a rock, which is not an ideal place for photos but luckily it moved to get away from us right out onto the reef. While it was out Dave got a couple of really great shots, again the best one is below. Pretty good dive and even Dave really enjoyed it.

We went to Hangover Hole next - nothing much to photograph here but Dave did get a good silhouette shot from underneath where I was swimming. Found my first brittle star on this dive which I sent Dave off to photograph for me. As you can probably see from my blog I pretty much spot a whole bunch of stuff I want photographed and send Dave off to get the shot.

A good days diving all in all. 

About 3 weeks ago I went out with Anson Nash of the Bermuda Conservation Society, who was looking for a volunteer to assist with the inspections of the dive moorings.  We pretty much covered every mooring on the South Shore, right up to Castle Harbour.  He checks that none of the lines are fraying, and changes the pick-up lines on most of them.  A couple of them (Shell City and Hangover Hole) had the entire mooring Changed.  While it seems like quite a difficult task it didn’t take Anson very long to do it - He would prepare the mooring line on the boat and then dive down and attach it to the cleat on the reef.  It Was pretty interesting to see and be involved in, though I didn’t do much apart from hold his tools and pass him plastic ties.  One of the moorings we went to was Southwest Breaker, and Unlike the others it also needed to have the buoy changed as well as the pick-up line.  When we were out there diving last week I said to Michael “I helped change that”.  He just laughed knowing that I had very little to do with it.  I Was only out the one time but it was nice to know I was able to help, even if it was only as a dive buddy.

I’ve pretty much fallen into a routine of going to the gym twice a week and diving the rest of the time.  Mondays and Thursday I go to an Aerobic Kick boxing class followed by Pilates.  The rest of the week I’m out diving with Bluewater, helping out with the trips they have on.  I mostly guide people around the dive sites but I’ve helped Tracy a couple of times with some Lesson and dive folks.  Doing this you get to meet a lot of different people, and I spent one of my weeks diving with Sandy and Bruce, a couple originally from Zimbabwe who are now living in London.  Ondrej managed to take them to a different site every day which is pretty good going as there are regulars that they tend to go back to time after time. I’m learning a lot and I’m becoming a much more confident diver.  I Wanted to be very comfortable in the water for our Shark diving trip in June, so “mission accomplished” I think. 

I Still dive on the weekends but I don’t guide or assist with lessons and just go diving with Dave.  Its much more relaxing as we tend to just hover around the reef looking out for anything that would be good to photograph.  Dave does the picture taking, while I guide us both around the site.  I Was at Cathedral Caves on Wednesday but didn’t really get the chance to investigate the caves, would like to go back with Dave and have a better look and maybe get some cool photos of it.  The one I did manage to see was beautiful, it was a narrow tunnel that opened out into a huge open cave that had light coming through from a gap in the rocks.  Its really hard to describe how spectacular it was.

The rest of my 58 days here are more than likely going to be spent in much the same way, with a little packing here and there.

The weather at the beginning of this week was great, it was sunny and there was very little wind so when Ondrej, at Bluewater divers, emailed me to ask if I wanted to go for a dive Tuesday I jumped at the chance.

It was a pretty quiet boat for divers, only 5 in total, 4 certified divers and one lesson and dive. Surprisingly there were about 6 folks coming along to snorkel. Everyone was getting themselves sorted on the boat and there was a huge splash. We all looked round and one of the snorkeling folks was in the water. After finding out she was ok I was trying not to laugh, Michael wasn’t so subtle he said “well I guess you don’t need to go snorkeling now?” with a big smile on his face. Turned out she was leaning on the ladder at the back for support while she put her foot in the water to test the temperature. As the ladder isn’t locked the force she used while leaning on it was enough to push it down, so when it went down so did she. After all that she ended up not going out to snorkel, she got seasick.

The visibility was really good today and I was really exited when our first dive site was the Lartington, you can sometimes find a lion fish here. Found him in one of the small boilers found in the middle of the wreck. They are just so beautiful looking, hope the guy I was guiding managed to get a good picture. Also on this dive I noticed a big coney hanging around a bit of reef so I went in for a closer look. On closer inspection there was a pretty big octopus hiding between two rocks. Don’t think he liked my presence so he shot off under another rock, was still cool seeing him swimming away.

The second dive was the Constellation/Montana, wasn’t really expecting to see much but right in its usual spot in the boiler was the local spiny lobster. Surprisingly there were a few shoals of fish around the site and lots of juveniles, it was great swimming through them. Also on this dive my favourite fish, the smooth trunk fish, made an appearance. Watched him for a little while, hope the folks I was diving with didn’t mind stopping to watch him swimming around.

If I was a photographer today was a great day for taking photos, the sun was out and the fish were out in full force. Wished Dave could have been diving with me, looking forward to my first dive of the year with Dave, hope it’s a day like this one. The two guys I was guiding were pretty good. Pat from Norfolk in the UK seemed like he had been diving for ages. Brian from the states seemed newer to diving but after the first 15 mins seemed pretty comfortable in the water and I didn’t have to chase either of them down during the dive. All in all the diving today was really good and I really enjoyed myself, it’s nice just being able to go out when I like :-)  

I looked out the window this morning and wasn’t convinced that it was a good day to go and play volleyball. However, I had already emailed Michelle to say I’d be there and I hate it when people say they are coming and don’t turn up so I thought I should head on out there. The wind was blowing pretty strong down our way, lots of white caps. I figured if its blowing from the west, the wind on Horseshoe beach wouldn’t be that bad as it faces South. At least the sun was out???.

When I turned up just after 2pm I thought they’d be well under way but I guess the weather had given most folks second thoughts about turning up. In the end we had 10 people, perfect number. There were lots of missed chances and sand dives (mostly from myself and some from Franco). We also cant forget the shots that you never in a million years believe are going to go over the net, got one of those

We had played maybe 3 or 4 games (and somehow I’d always ended up on the losing team, oh well) and the dark clouds had moved in. We thought we were going to escape but unfortunately not. Some of us stuck it out hiding under our towels where others ran to the shelter of the Lifeguard station. The rain only lasted 5 mins and so back to the game we went and yes I was still on the losing team (maybe next week). With the heavy rain then the sun coming out we got a beautiful Rainbow. Mark Quesnel stopped the game to capture it, just have a look at the photo.

After a couple more games the rain stopped us for good and as we all rushed to take the net down and run for our scooters, cars it really started to pour, thunder and lightning the works. Still it was a good way to spend a Sunday afternoon, hopefully the weather will be better for next weekend.

My last day at work was pretty strange, it wasnt like I was leaving to go to another job or leaving the Country so it sort of didnt feel like I was leaving. I have however left, I got an excellent bottle of Ralph Lauren Pink perfume and a $100 voucher for the Beneton group of companies (Shannon’s the best :o). The voucher has already been spent.

Anyway, back to the night out. Everyone there got drunk on ACT (thank you to Dave Bart for buying a few rounds) for the first portion of the evening. I had a great time chatting with everyone, getting emotional, it had to happen eventually, and out of all that came one of the best night out photos I’ve seen. Its of Jill and I, neither of us looking that drunk and it shows our best sides………. See for yourself.

After drinks and most people had left I went to the Coconut Rock Sushi Bar with Tosha and Vernal (thanks for treating me, next one is on me). Its the best sushi I’ve had so far and I even liked the Shrimp dishes. Had a good laugh in there, even saw a grown man crying after he ate slighlty too much wasabi.

All in all it was a really good night out.